I have to admit, I didn't resonate with much of the description of this card in the Animal Kin Oracle Guidebook, when I pulled this card today. It's a stunning image in its simplicity, and the provided interpretation is uplifting. But, for me, it seemed to only graze the meat of the message.

Dragonflies are a beautiful, but predatory creature, feeding almost exclusively on mosquitoes, moths and other small dragonflies. They are delicate but agile, capable of spanning oceans and tolerating sudden changes to their environment. They are territorial but adaptable and can even camouflage their flights patterns to confuse an enemy. Resourceful would be an apt word to describe this amazing creature.

So how does this translate to our daily draw and the concept of imagination, manifesting and living our dreams? I believe it's a beautiful narration on the power of predatory wishful thinking, and on losing ourselves in a bubble of fantasy. Probably not at all what the artist had intended but I find myself, of late, focusing on the shadows of each card I pull.

Photograph: Nicole Hanna

Okay, now... how do we apply this understanding in our lives? By utilizing the strengths of the dragonfly. By taking our fantasies, our un-lived dreams, and employing a little practicality in order to adapt a single fantasy into a livable reality. It's about doing the hard work and bursting the bubble of our self-doubt so we stop wishing for a life to live, and living the

life we have. The dragonfly warns us not to fall into the confusing flight of our dreams but to formulate real, tangible plans around which to build our own successes. This beautiful creature implores us to unravel the mystery of our own adaptable natures. To build lives, not wishes. To span oceans if we must, but to fight for our goals.

And though I may not agree entirely with the interpretation supplied by the Animal Kin Oracle, I will leave you with this:

"Combining our powerful mind's eye and emotional intelligence, we can dream up the wildest most mystical ideas and then dig deeper from the surface and find innovative ways to bring it into reality"